I MADE GRAPHICS. For Ray and Ace!! Check em out in the Introduction chapter pleeeeeaaseee :3
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Dedicated to:no_one_ugh
Thanks for all the lovely and extremely funny comments and your support! :):)
"Saw your worst and I stayed."
~ spewest.org
Carlton's POV
When Ray and my glances met, they crashed like thunder striking a city.
We followed them inside the humongous hotel lobby, where everyone was in their own world of complications.
Breanna pushed past me and stood in front of them. "What're you guys doing here?!"
Ray's eyes lit up and he held her hands with eagerness, making my blood boil. "Mackenzie, or should I say, Breanna? I've found a way to destroy Augustus."
I stepped between, placing a hand on his shoulder to prod him away from her. "Fuck off, Ray. There's nothing for you here."
He sneered at me. "Don't forget, I was the one who called you here with that letter."
"And for that reason, I'm the one in control-"
This time I was interrupted by Breanna, who was staring intently at her ex-friend-with-benefits. "What did you say?"
"You heard me," he said, "I left you because I had given up on taking revenge for Aunt Vivian. But Ace and I later found a way."
"Whoa, hold on!" I lifted my hand to silence him. "What revenge?!"
Ray sniggered, giving me a one-sided, scornful smirk. "What a pity. You're supposed to help her and she didn't tell you shit. I wonder why!"
That was it.
My tolerance level had reached its peak and I snapped.
The veins in my neck throbbed as I bared my teeth together. I jumped on him, grabbing his throat with my hands, and began to push him back so he would fall.
It caught him by surprise, and he huffed loudly as I thrust on his chest to cause him to trip. But he maintained his balance somehow.
Numerous yells were echoing in the large lobby as I heard people running up to us.
I attempted to punch him but felt my arms being grabbed from the back.
My head was hot and furious and I didn't care who I was pushing away to tear Raymond apart.
There was something about him that fuelled my frustration. His egoistic alpha-male attitude ticked me off until I had no other choice but to express it physically by beating him up.
Ace was trying to hold Ray back when Breanna appeared. She placed a hand on my chest and asked me to stop in such a soft-spoken voice that I had to.
A concerned hotel staff sauntered toward us, his hands clasped together, respectfully. "With all due respect Sir, we request you to take this somewhere else."
"Apologies. We'll keep it down." Damien muttered, still holding me back. "Carlton, stay back, I'll handle this."
Saying that, he turned to Ray and Ace. "Guys, we're flying to Boston now. We can't waste time. However, if you'd like to join us, meet us at the airport within the next hour. It's either that, or you leave because Breanna is coming with us."
Did he just ask them to join us?!
I would've slapped Damien if it wasn't for Breanna's hand stopping me.
Ace seemed so content that he smiled widely, shaking Raymond. "Let's do it! You're Damien Price, right? Oh my God. I've heard so much about you dude!"
And then Ace hugged Damien.
Damien stumbled back a little bit. He didn't hug him back though and awkwardly muttered. "Uhhh...okay."
What a weirdo Ace was.
As soon as they left, Damien smirked. "Let's leave before they reach the airport."
My knees fell weak.
This! This is why Damien Price was my friend!
I was so impressed.
But before we could act, Bree stopped us, looking betrayed and wretched. "No! Please wait! Let them come! We can trust them. Please, Carlton. I'm begging you."
Why did she have this kind of power over me?
I realized how deep I had fallen into this ditch when I couldn't even get myself to deny it.
Of course, I did what she said.
But why?
Why did I allow Ray to hang with us just because Breanna said so?
This was starting to scare me. This didn't seem like love anymore. It felt so wrong, as if I was self-harming.
I couldn't control myself.
If that kept going on, I might lose sight of reality and who I was.
But how do I stop it?
*****
There was one way to stop it.
I walked down the aisle of Damien's private jet, to where she was seated.
I needed to spend time with her more.
All these years I had tried to avoid her, thinking that was the only way. But maybe, it was the other way around.
If her company was going to fix this, I'd better get to work. "Hey."
She looked up from her book, giving me a genuine smile. "Hey."
I flopped on the seat beside her, looking over at Ace sitting beside Damien a few seats away, laughing with him.
Was Ace obsessed with him or what?
Ray wasn't visible from here. What a relief.
"Thanks by the way," she said, "For letting them tag along."
"Only for you," I replied, watching her enthusiastically turn her head away and giggle as her face reddened, "What're you reading?"
Her visible redness faded. "Oh, it's...nothing."
I read the book title and then the author's name out loud. "Mackenzie? Did...you...?"
"Yes, I wrote it a long time ago." Her gaze drifted away miserably. "Didn't do that well."
Oh boy. That must suck. I wanted to cheer her up. "It looks good. Can I read it?"
"Well..." She giggled again. I wished she did that more often because her smile was beautiful to me. "I'm not sure if you'll like it. You don't look like a book person."
"It's written by you. It's gotta be good."
Her smile didn't seem to go away.
Bingo.
This was a topic she loved to talk about and it was visible how she was tickled pink when I praised her about it.
"It didn't get recognized anyway." She was smiling but she sounded so sad. I wanted to hug her and tell her how she deserved everything in the world. And I would give it to her.
All she needed to do was ask.
I leaned in closer to her to tuck a few strands of hair behind her ear, while she caressed her book cover lovingly. "Not all good things get recognized, Bree."
This might've overwhelmed her, because she locked her gaze with mine, tears glimmering in her sky-blue eyes.
It looked as though she was trying to battle something. After some pondering, she exclaimed, "Just so you know, I don't want you to blame yourself for what happened to me."
Here we go!
I shook my head. "No, I was stupid-"
"True, but you didn't ruin my life Carlton," she vented, placing her hand on mine which caught me by surprise, "In fact right after my attempted murder charges were dropped and I was expelled from school, my parents asked me to move to another city and start over. I changed my identity. I wasn't in any kind of pain, though."
"But you were expelled."
"Yes, but Aunt Vivian, my mother's sister was the Editor in Chief for one of the most popular newspapers in the country. She hired me as her secretary because she's been watching me for years and told me that if I do well, I'll get a promotion. My life was good and the pay as well."
Squinting, I listened carefully to what she had to say since she was finally telling me something. "Then how did you end up like this?"
"It was all Augustus Bancroft's fault."
Yes! That's it!
"He suddenly came out of nowhere and bought Aunt Vivian's newspaper company." She poured it all out without stopping. "He began to make deals with other powerful people and manipulate what was being printed in the paper. Aunt Vivian couldn't handle that and she tried to expose him for it."
It broke my heart to see her so crestfallen, so I placed my hand on her shoulder, attempting to soothe her.
Her head fell backward, as she endeavored to keep her tears at bay. "She was found dead in her apartment next week for mysterious reasons."
I sucked a deep breath in, the temperature around me dropping out of the blue.
I suppose I saw it coming, but when she actually confirmed my suspicion, it benumbed my mind.
"Bree..." was all I could utter as she broke down for the hundredth time.
"They moved her before I even got to see her." She spoke between her silent whimpers. "I ran away after the funeral. Raymond was my good friend. And at the time he worked at a junior position in the company. I ran to him for help."
I see.
I was quite familiar with killing for power. I grew up with people who made a living out of doing just that.
There was no question that this was a murder. But I needed to soothe her. "And you're sure it was Augustus who killed Aunt Vivian?"
"I'm sure. And he probably wanted to get his hands on me too. But I escaped narrowly."
How narrow was that? Because I was dumbfounded. I couldn't wrap my mind around the fact that this was actually way bigger than I thought.
My plane ride had suddenly become way more torturous. "That's why he's after you? Because you know about Aunt Vivian's murder and the newspaper company fraud?"
"Frauds. There's a lot of them. Raymond, his friends and I stayed in hiding for months trying to figure out just one way we could expose him."
"And the masquerade?'
"Yes," she nodded, finally regaining her stance, "We thought that recording his conversation with this one man, who he was planning a fraud with, would help us. So we followed him to the masquerade, but Augustus' guards recognized me."
Her eyes then trained towards me, a small smile shining through the pain. "Miraculously, you happened to be there too. Thanks to you, I made it out alive."
I returned the smile, reaching for her hand. She allowed me to clasp her thin fingers between mine. "Why did you guys suddenly run away to Pittsfield, then?"
"They found our hiding spot. We had to evacuate. We barely made it out alive. That's why all my friends left me."
It was like the pieces of a puzzle finally coming together. It all made so much sense now. "But Ray and Ace are back."
"Yes. They probably found out an opportunity to expose Augustus."
I felt so ashamed of my actions.
I didn't know anything about what was going on and made the stupidest decisions that could've gotten us all killed.
Even earlier when I asked Breanna out on a date, was so stupid of me.
I understood now, how important Raymond was in all of this.
I hated him, yes. I believed we could just run away with Breanna and we'd be fine. But that wasn't the case.
She had sensitive information that could rip apart the privileged ground that Augustus was walking on. He would do anything to get his hands on her.
But that wasn't gonna happen.
Not when I was in charge.
It's okay now — I wanted to tell her. She was safe in my hands.
I lifted her hand, that I was holding between my palms, towards my lips and placed on kiss on it. "I'm sorry you had to go through all of that."
Breanna chuckled, a blush creeping up her neck as she held my hands tighter. "You're really cute when you're nice to people, you know?"
*****
A matt black Cadillac pulled up beside the private jet once we had landed.
Ace found it quite overwhelming that it was so convenient for us to not go through the whole check out process and it was all done specially for us.
Yes, but more convenient was the fact that we didn't have to stand in long lines and waste precious time.
Boston was freezing. A chilly gust of wind swished our hair and jackets, seeping into our bones painfully.
I noticed Breanna shivering as we climbed down the private jet, and reached forward to hold her hand. It was warm and soft, in contrast to the cold, devilish climate.
She remained close to me, even occasionally clutching the fabric of my jacket when the wind rocked us over, almost as if I would shield her from the winds.
The afternoon sky was dark and gloomy, no sun, and just the metallic blue hue washing over the city.
A chauffeur dressed in a neat suit, as he should, greeted me and Damien before opening the door of the seven-seat, luxurious monstrosity.
Ace gasped as he followed right after Damien. "Whoa! Cooool!"
Ace, to me, seemed like quite an open-minded, nonchalant guy. It wasn't the least bit embarrassing to him to express his emotions so flagrantly.
Well, at least he wasn't one of those hypocritical, know-it-alls who love to keep shit to themselves and use it against the other person in the last minute.
Raymond was quite silent, though. He knew I wouldn't let him get any closer to Breanna, since her and my hands had been locked throughout the ride. So he, sensibly, got in the passenger seat.
I kind of respected that.
It was only Ace's hushed voice that echoed in the car as he spoke with Phil and Damien.
Breanna had snuggled up to me, resting her head on my shoulders and her eyes shut close, calmly.
Watching her in such a state of tranquillity and coziness was giving my heart a satisfaction I hadn't felt before.
Knowing that she was here, and safe with me, meant everything in the world and more.
I was running my hands through her hair, listening to her rhythmic breathing and attempting to sync it mine so it wouldn't bother her.
It was really hard to wake her up from her sleep after we had reached Avery's mansion.
Avery was more than pleased to have new visitors in her crib, although two of them might have to stay in the same room. And since I had a big, negative opinion about Ray and Bree sleeping together, I shoved Ray and Ace into one room.
While Avery Price was torturing Breanna with the descriptions of her artistic nail-art, I noticed Ivanna walking towards me. No, running towards me.
At first, I was confused but then I remembered — I was drunk, and I kissed her and then pushed her away and then flew away from Boston without a trace.
Oh shit.
Red alert!
I tried to make a run for it, but she caught up and dragged me into a corner by my jacket.
And then she slapped me.
"What the fuck?!" I yelled.
"That's for making out with me and then pushing me away for calling you a fuckboy!" Her face was red-hot with fury.
"I'm sorry! I was angry! I do that when I'm drunk."
The slap stung so bad, but she kept going on with so much hatred in her crackling voice. "Are you serious?! I thought you saw me hitting on you all day and you finally noticed me and turns out you wanted a one night stand?!"
Yes! Because you're hot and I'm a mess!
"I thought you wanted that too!" Okay no, that didn't make any sense. Why did I say that?
"Fuck you, Carl. Fuck you."
Girls were so weird. If she wanted more, she could've just said it instead of calling me a fuckboy. But no!
I groaned as she stomped away in her heels.
I swear if she makes it hard for Breanna to live here as revenge, I will crush her will to breathe.
This was madness. I had so many other important things to work on, and I had to live under one roof with so much drama.
Damn it!
If only it was ethical for me to run away with Breanna. But others wouldn't like that, and neither would she.
We still had to work on that plan to expose Augustus Bancroft. And at this rate, it felt impossible.
*****
When night fell, the luxurious three-story Price villa was bright with radiance and the yard embellished with fairy lights and extravagant night lamps.
To welcome our new guests, which we introduced to the others as our new friends we made on our "business trip" to Pittsfield, Avery and her girls planned a bonfire night at the fire pit.
The fire pit was an elevated stone ground in their gigantic park which the Price siblings dismissed as "backyard". There were cushions and blankets to sit on around the fire.
Ace was sitting with Damien, showing him something on the phone, when I joined.
Ray wasn't sitting with Breanna. Good. He'd better stay in his limits.
She was quivering so I did what I should've. I took a quilt from indoors, and walked up behind her, wrapping it around her shoulders.
She looked behind and gave me a smile, ushering at me to sit down beside her amid the cushions. She practically hugged me, wrapping her arms around my stomach.
I could say that it pissed off some people because I felt eyes on me.
Ray, of course, and Ivanna were so bad at hiding their jealousy.
But what surprised me most was that Damien was ignoring Ace and instead he was shifty and uneasy.
Did he have a problem with me and Breanna? I had noticed that he had been a little distant since she came.
Dylan was missing, though. And it was definitely because I had left him here and went to Pittsfield with Damien instead.
It felt so good to be wrapped up in blankets and sit by the bonfire, feeling the comfortable warmth of the flames kissing my skin. And I had Breanna placing her head on my chest, making my heart ram against my ribs with child-like zest.
But almost everyone here was being so salty and dramatic.
We were supposed to be a team, not throw shade at each other.
Our goals were starting to seem impractical.
And perhaps, we'd have to work a little harder than I thought.
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Guys, if you could leave a review of this chapter, that would be so awesome! I wouldn't ask for other chapters :):)
Please tell me if the story is keeping up with your expectations! Do you ship Carlton and Breanna?? XD
What did you think about Bree's past?
Love, K!